| FEBRUARY 2009 NEWSLETTER |
This newsletter includes a flash study case of several images I took of a Strong-billed Woodcreeper
near Sachatamia Lodge in Ecuador and 2 other species of woodcreepers. The Woodcreeper
sub-family consists of 51 species all living in the Neotropical (Mexico, Cenral and South America) part
of the world. They used to be considered a separate family but now they are part of the ovenbird
family. Although they are superficially similar to the Brown Creeper and creeper of Europe they are
not related to those birds. In this newsletter I will discuss various flash techniques with photos to
illustrate the techniques used in each case. This newsletter isn't meant to showcase some of my
best images but rather as a teaching aid for handheld flash photography in dark conditions.
near Sachatamia Lodge in Ecuador and 2 other species of woodcreepers. The Woodcreeper
sub-family consists of 51 species all living in the Neotropical (Mexico, Cenral and South America) part
of the world. They used to be considered a separate family but now they are part of the ovenbird
family. Although they are superficially similar to the Brown Creeper and creeper of Europe they are
not related to those birds. In this newsletter I will discuss various flash techniques with photos to
illustrate the techniques used in each case. This newsletter isn't meant to showcase some of my
best images but rather as a teaching aid for handheld flash photography in dark conditions.
STRONG-BILLED WOODCREEPER photographed at Sachatamia Lodge, November 2008, Canon 1dMkIII,
500F4 lens, 1.4X TC, 1/250 F8, iso 500, Manual Mode, 580ex Flash at 0 compensation, handheld. I used
a Better Beamer Flash Extender for all 3 of the following shots. I like to handhold my large lens when
going on walks in the forest, I just find a heavy tripod cumbersome when I'm trying to go for a hike in
the forest. The problem then arises, how does one get a quality image while handholding a large
lens in the dark environs of a cloud forest or rain forest? The answer is that using flash is a
necessity in this case. The flash allows me to get a faster shutter speed and as long as the flash is
used as the main light and the ambient exposure is 2 or more stops lower than what the meter would
use, the flash will achieve a strobe like effect and help to freeze any movement of the bird. The
positives of the image I have here are I was able to take it with an iso that would produce little or no
noise and the image is nice and sharp. The downside of having used this much flash is that I have a
pretty dark background and the exposure is not particularly consistent. For example, the tree trunk
which is closer to me than the bird is a bit overexposed, the bird is exposed correctly and the
background is dark.
500F4 lens, 1.4X TC, 1/250 F8, iso 500, Manual Mode, 580ex Flash at 0 compensation, handheld. I used
a Better Beamer Flash Extender for all 3 of the following shots. I like to handhold my large lens when
going on walks in the forest, I just find a heavy tripod cumbersome when I'm trying to go for a hike in
the forest. The problem then arises, how does one get a quality image while handholding a large
lens in the dark environs of a cloud forest or rain forest? The answer is that using flash is a
necessity in this case. The flash allows me to get a faster shutter speed and as long as the flash is
used as the main light and the ambient exposure is 2 or more stops lower than what the meter would
use, the flash will achieve a strobe like effect and help to freeze any movement of the bird. The
positives of the image I have here are I was able to take it with an iso that would produce little or no
noise and the image is nice and sharp. The downside of having used this much flash is that I have a
pretty dark background and the exposure is not particularly consistent. For example, the tree trunk
which is closer to me than the bird is a bit overexposed, the bird is exposed correctly and the
background is dark.
STRONG-BILLED WOODCREEPER photographed at Mindo, Ecuador, November 2008. Canon1dMkIII
500F4 1/160 F5.6, iso 500, apeture priority, evaluative metering -1.7, 580ex flash exposure
compensation at 0. In this image I had moved a bit closer to the bird, so I took off my teleconverter. I
was now shooting in apeture priority trying to mix just a bit more ambient light into the exposure. The
result still looks a bit overflashed to me, the image lacks depth as the bird looks a bit pasted and you
can see the shadow of the bird from the flash on the tree behind the bird. Again, I was able to shoot
this at a resonable iso, so there's not a lot of digital noise and I was able to achieve a sharp image
handholding that long lens without much light to work with.
500F4 1/160 F5.6, iso 500, apeture priority, evaluative metering -1.7, 580ex flash exposure
compensation at 0. In this image I had moved a bit closer to the bird, so I took off my teleconverter. I
was now shooting in apeture priority trying to mix just a bit more ambient light into the exposure. The
result still looks a bit overflashed to me, the image lacks depth as the bird looks a bit pasted and you
can see the shadow of the bird from the flash on the tree behind the bird. Again, I was able to shoot
this at a resonable iso, so there's not a lot of digital noise and I was able to achieve a sharp image
handholding that long lens without much light to work with.
Here is the same bird photographed just a few seconds later. Canon 1dMkIII 500F4, 1/300 F4.5, iso
1000 apeture priority, evaluative metering -1.3, 580ex flash exposure compensation at -1.3., handheld.
In this image I tried to reduce the effects of the flash, while still getting a sharp image. To do this I set
both my ambient exposure and my flash exposure compensation to -1.3. This was a bit of an
experiment and ideally the ambient exposure would be closer to 0. The reason I used -1.3 was I trying
to get enough shutter speed to get a sharp image and I thought those settings might help to freeze
the action some if the bird moved. The image was underexposed a bit and I lightened it before doing
the raw conversion to JPEG. This image has more noise than the previous 2 images as a result of
using the higher iso and lightening it in post processing. However I like this image quite a bit more
than the previous 2. There isn't the shadow that is present in the second image and the bird doesn't
look pasted into the image. I used the in program noise reduction in Photoshop on everything except
the bird to remove some of the noise in this image. So, when handholding in the forest, the choice is
yours. You can take either a highly flashed imaged with a lower iso and less noise or one with less
flash and therefore a more natural look but at a higher iso with more digital noise.
1000 apeture priority, evaluative metering -1.3, 580ex flash exposure compensation at -1.3., handheld.
In this image I tried to reduce the effects of the flash, while still getting a sharp image. To do this I set
both my ambient exposure and my flash exposure compensation to -1.3. This was a bit of an
experiment and ideally the ambient exposure would be closer to 0. The reason I used -1.3 was I trying
to get enough shutter speed to get a sharp image and I thought those settings might help to freeze
the action some if the bird moved. The image was underexposed a bit and I lightened it before doing
the raw conversion to JPEG. This image has more noise than the previous 2 images as a result of
using the higher iso and lightening it in post processing. However I like this image quite a bit more
than the previous 2. There isn't the shadow that is present in the second image and the bird doesn't
look pasted into the image. I used the in program noise reduction in Photoshop on everything except
the bird to remove some of the noise in this image. So, when handholding in the forest, the choice is
yours. You can take either a highly flashed imaged with a lower iso and less noise or one with less
flash and therefore a more natural look but at a higher iso with more digital noise.
MONTANE WOODCREEPER photographed at Cabanas San Isidro, Ecuador, November 2008. Canon
1dMkIII 500F4 1/60 F5.6 iso 800, apeture priority, evaluative metering at 0, no flash, Gitzo tripod. Of
couse, if there is enough available light and the light is coming from the right direction, it's even
better to use no flash. In this image I had just enough light to make it work for me. In addition I was
using a sturdy Gitzo tripod as I was photographing right on the lodge grounds.
1dMkIII 500F4 1/60 F5.6 iso 800, apeture priority, evaluative metering at 0, no flash, Gitzo tripod. Of
couse, if there is enough available light and the light is coming from the right direction, it's even
better to use no flash. In this image I had just enough light to make it work for me. In addition I was
using a sturdy Gitzo tripod as I was photographing right on the lodge grounds.
NARROW-BILLED WOODCREEPER photographed at the Ibera Marshes, Argentina, September 2007.
Canon 20D 500F4 1.4X TC, 1/2500 F5.6, iso 400, evaluative metering at 0, handheld. Here there was
plenty of morning light coming from the right direction so no flash was necessary.
If you would like to see or photograph a woodcreeper yourself, join one of our tours to Ecuador, our
next one is this August 1-12. Click here for more information.
Canon 20D 500F4 1.4X TC, 1/2500 F5.6, iso 400, evaluative metering at 0, handheld. Here there was
plenty of morning light coming from the right direction so no flash was necessary.
If you would like to see or photograph a woodcreeper yourself, join one of our tours to Ecuador, our
next one is this August 1-12. Click here for more information.
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